George Galloway
thumb|250px|Galloway at the US senate George Galloway is a Scottish Socialist and former Member of Parliament. He first entered Parliament in 1983 when he won Glasgow Hillhead for Labour - defeating Roy Jenkins the leader of the SDP. He fell out with New Labour over the Iraq war and in 2005 abandoned his Glasgow seat and won Bethnal Green and Bow in London. He appears to be an old style Socialist whose current power-base is in London's Bangladeshi community, he supported Saddam Hussein when he was in power. He is very intelligent and well educated, and this shows when he is engaged in an argument or discussion. Suspected opportunism Some suspect that he's really neither left wing nor right wing but just in politics for himself. Personally, I think George Galloway is an appalling opportunist, who chose Bethnal Green and Bow as a seat in order to exploit the racial tensions there; someone who slips this way and that, someone who avoids serious debate by resorting to facile mud-slinging and ridiculous hyperbole. http://www.teamfishcake.co.uk/articles/George_Galloway '' ''I would not call him an idiot as he is a political opportunist and carpet bagger. https://www.uwesu.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=13979&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15 Unlike most politicians he is not afraid to speak his mind assuming he believes what he says. Ideology As one would expect from the "Socialist" who ended the Commons career of the man who as Labour Home Secretary had abolished the death penalty and legalised abortion, divorce and homosexuality, and then went on to represent one of Europe's most Muslim constituencies; Galloway is a state centrist, paternalistic socialist, who takes a jaundiced view of Capitalism, Liberals, Economic Conservatives and Zionism. We take pride in our rhetoric. Suspected corruption and views on imperialism He was suspected of profiting from corruption in the oil for food scheme but this has not been proven - and the Senate committee charged with investigating him was thoroughly rebuked by Galloway, severely weakening their accusations. He says he is anti-imperialist but he was OK with Socialist expansionism as he supported the evil USSR, but not for their imperialistic ways, which did far worse things than the United States or Israel ever did. He opposed democracy in Pakistan . He supported Syrian imperialism in Lebanon. Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability. http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/003613.html It seems he likes some imperialists but dislikes others. Sanity He is normally a very serious, sane person and proved it when he appeared on Big Brother, where he pranced about in a red leotard and pretended to be a cat for another contestant, and also dressed up as a vampire, yes really. Later he hid in a cardboard box and argued with Michael Barrymore about cigars. Well we think he did for the lulz so he could say "I can do this, and keep my job" to all the conservatives who privately do it. All the time his constituents complained that he’d deserted them. Respect He was elected as the leader of the Respect party, a right wing,left wing anti gay, pro gay cosy, atheist-hating, coalition of Muslims and old-style Socialists, and became that party's only MP when he won Bethnal Green in 2005. http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2005nov/2202.htm Galloway defeated Oona King one of the few black female MPs in the British Parliament thereby reducing the parliamentary representation of both groups. Being black or female would in an ideal world meither qualify nor disqualify a person from parliament but in the real world it's sad that two underrepresented groups got replaced by someone whose ideals and motives are so questionable. He lost the election for a new London constituency in 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplar_and_Limehouse_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Election_results On his regular visits to Iraq prior to the invasion he toadied up to Uday Hussein (a man who enjoyed throwing people into an industrial plastic threshing machine). He asked Uday about his taste in cigars and then said that all men of taste enjoy Cuban cigars. After the invasion he exhorted Arabs to rise up, saying that British troops had fallen on them like wolves and deserved to be killed. Now that's a really superb, patriotic British MP for you. Being an MP does not restrict one from criticising any country's actions, including one's own but actively encouraging others to kill ones own troops as if they were animals is going a bit far. References *George Galloway, by Mark *Galloway’s Party in Gay Rights Row *Hang Galloway Category:Politics of the United Kingdom Category:British People Category:Scottish People Category:Scottish Christian Socialists Category:Scottish Christians